For years, people have used traditional incandescent or fluorescence lighting to address their interior lighting concerns. However, such lighting presents a number of drawbacks. For example, the popular AR111 halogen light has relatively high power consumption, inefficiency of light dispersion due to the placement of its metal shield in the line sight of the halogen bulb, and its limited effectiveness in preventing glare from the halogen bulb.
A number of LED lighting apparatuses have been designed to replace the AR111 halogen light, as well as other traditional incandescent or fluorescence lighting. Typically, in such LED lighting apparatuses, the LED light source is located at the center of a reflector with its light emission directed outward from the reflection. Additionally, there are LED lights such as PAR38, that use multiple LEDs with their light emissions directed outward from one or more reflectors. These configurations are unable to achieve narrow beam angles, and result in considerable glare since observers are not shielded from the LED light source. Further, these configurations inefficiently distribute heat making the use of high-powered LEDs practically prohibitive.
In an attempt to address these problems, alternative LED lighting apparatuses use a heat pipe and a mirror or reflective surface to reflect light back in the direction of the LED light source. See, e.g., U.S. Pat. No. 6,976,769 to McCullough et al. entitled “Light-Emitting Diode Reflector Assembly Having a Heat Pipe”; U.S. Pat. No. 7,246,921 to Jacobson et al. entitled “Back-Reflecting LED Light Source”; and PCT International Application Publication No. WO 2006/033998 to Magna International Inc. entitled “Thermal Management System for Solid State Automotive Lighting.” However, the problem with these apparatuses is in their inability to efficiently dissipate heat, while providing maximum illumination.
Therefore, it is with respect to these considerations and others that the present invention has been made.